The present invention relates in general to network communications systems, and, more specifically, to a network system for managing multimedia services provided to subscribers of a telecommunications service provider in a manner adapted to the instantaneous access methods and devices used by the subscribers (i.e., their “presence”).
The multimedia and data capabilities of both wireless devices (e.g., cell phones) and the service providers' telecommunications networks have been rapidly increasing. Services and applications historically associated only with either fixed or mobile terminals have converged so that the distinction between fixed and mobile services is less significant. Applications such as internet browsing that initially were performed primarily only from fixed minicomputer workstations are now routinely done using wireless telephone devices such as PDA's. Likewise, phone services such as audio and video conferencing are now accomplished using computer terminals connected over data networks.
Users of any particular communication/multimedia service typically have many optional device capabilities and service levels to choose from. For example, a subscriber of a cellular network may choose from many different phones with differing multimedia specifications, from a basic phone to a smart phone or a PDA phone. Using their selected phone, various data services such as text messaging can be received. The provider of the text messaging service configures it to receive messages from and send messages to many different types of terminals having different text or graphics capabilities. A server or other device providing the service content to the end user terminal (i.e., phone or other device) must adapt the transmitted content to the type of receiving device. In the prior art, the server identified the capability of the end user terminal in response to the specific client software used by the terminal, i.e., the dedicated application software used by the terminal to access the server. The requirement to use this client/server model in order to identify the end user terminal capabilities is undesirable within the context of an integrated service provider such as a cellular carrier because of increased cost and loss of flexibility in providing integrated services.